A Correspondent :
South Korea is going to provide financial and technical assistance for the construction of a Railway Cum Road Bridge (Extra Dosed Type) across the River Karnaphuli at Kalurghat point in the vicinity of existing Railway Bridge.
Fazle Karim Chowdhury MP, Chairman of the Bangladesh Railway Parliamentary Standing Committee, disclosed this while a delegation of Kalurghat Bridge Implementation Committee called on him on Monday.
He said, “South Korea agreed to provide Tk 1,146 crore for construction of the bridge.”
According to BR sources, the appointed consultant of the project Yooshin Engineering Corporation in collaboration with Dong Myeong Engineering and Sunjin Engineering along with Korean architects have already completed the study and submitted it to the government.
South Korean Exim Bank is financing the project. The existing Kalurghat Railway Bridge that connected the southern part of Chittagong with the country is now in bad condition.
The bridge was once the only link between the southern region of Chittagong division on the bank of the river Karnaphuly with the rest of the country.
This 239m long bridge was installed as a simple rail bridge of steel structure between Janalihat and Gomdandi railway stations in 1930.
The bridge was commissioned for operation of trains in Chittagong-Dohazari section in the year 1931. Thirty-one years after its inauguration, considering the suffering of the people it was modified with decking and carpeting and turned into a rail and road-bridge in 1962.
This is now in dilapidated condition. The vehicles including the trains are moving at great risk over this old bridge.
Meanwhile, the BR authorities had declared the bridge unfit for vehicular traffic. But the movement of the vehicles has been continuing after making some necessary repairs in a restricted condition.
